Discovered by Steven Spielberg at thirteen, Esquire’s May cover star Alden Ehrenreich has blazed a path on the leading-man fast track, working with Francis Ford Coppola, the Coen Brothers, and others—all before turning thirty. Now he makes his boldest move: taking on one of cinema’s most iconic roles, Han Solo.

On becoming a part of the Star Wars franchise: “The world we live in now, everything is so niche. One of the beautiful things about being a part of Star Wars is that it’s one of those few things that are community building in that way. Maybe that way of putting it is a little self-important. But it is something we all have a connection to, something everybody knows about. There aren’t that many of those things.”

On rumors about the firing of directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller by Lucasfilm during production of Solo: “We tried a lot of different things. That was yielding a different movie than the other factions wanted. You don’t know what it’s shaping up to be, how they’re editing it, so it’s kind of impossible without having seen those things to know what the difference [of opinion] was, or exactly what created those differences. The actors are at the kids’ table, unless you’re also a producer of the movie. So you’re really kept out of all the backroom dynamics of what was going on.”

On rumors that the crew clapped when the Lord and Miller decision was announced: “That’s bullshit. For a crew to do that would mean they hated [Lord and Miller], which was not by any stretch the case. It was this period [three weeks between Lord and Miller’s sacking and Ron Howard’s arrival] of going, ‘What if they get somebody that you don’t get along with? What if they get somebody that has a totally different vision?’”

On deciding to accept the role of Han Solo: “It’s a decision you want to make sure you’re making of your own volition, and not just because everyone would think you’re insane if you didn’t…You don’t wanna get there and go, ‘God, maybe I just did this because my agent told me to.’”

On how many films he’s signed on for as Han Solo: “Three. I don’t know if that’s officially, uh, public. But—yeah.”

On reaching out to Harrison Ford: “I thought it seemed right, to reach out to him. You never know what to expect from people. And he was gracious and supportive and very welcoming—a real gentleman. I don’t think he was following the project that closely. He was just kind of like, ‘Hey, what’s up, kid?’ My impression is that when he did Force Awakens he was surprised at what a good time he had, and how meaningful it ended up feeling to him.”